Shahbaz offers ‘peace talks’ to Khan

• Punjab chief minister offers dialogue to PTI chief, says he is ready to even visit Khan’s residence to listen to his grievances
• Says govt willing to let Imran Khan spearhead electoral reforms process

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that the government has always been ready for a dialogue and he’s ready to visit Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s residence so that his reservations could be addressed in a democratic manner.

While talking to journalists in the capital and to a private TV channel Wednesday, the Punjab chief minister said that long marches and sit-ins were not a solution to anything, pressing Khan to engage in a dialogue instead of taking to the streets. However, he said that the government’s desire to hold dialogue should not be considered as a “weakness”. Shahbaz said that the government was even willing to let Imran Khan spearhead the electoral reforms process and he should present his suggestions in this regard to other political parties.

The PML-N senior leader said that Khan had congratulated him on winning elections on phone but after one year, he had started raising hue and cry of so called rigging. He said that PTI leader Asad Umar, while congratulating PML-N on winning elections at TV channels, had said that Khan was a sportsman and knew how to accept his defeat. He lamented that Khan neither proved to be a good politician nor a sportsman.

The chief minister said that Khan had announced in a public meeting in Lahore that he will not tell a lie in future but after that he had set “historic records of telling lies”.

“Khan has claimed that Rs 70 billion were spent on the metro bus project. If Rs Rs 35 billion were spent instead of Rs 30 billion on this project, I am ready to resign,” the chief minister said.

While referring to the PML-Q’s government in Punjab which he deems to be “corrupt”, Shahbaz alleged that Khan was raising anti-corruption slogans on one hand while taking support from corrupt politicians on the other.

“Does Khan want to bring a similar corrupt government in Punjab? Nation’s memory is not short as it fully remembers that Khan had declared those people biggest thieves of Pakistani politics.”

Shahbaz said that as far as Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri was concerned, he did not want to comment on a person who “tells lie on Holy Quran”.

The chief minister said that the PTI leadership wanted to hide its poor performance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through the politics of protests. He termed the performance of KP government as worst in all sectors including law and order, health, education, transport and said that international institutions would also endorse this claim.

He lamented that Khan had always remained disassociated from the problems of people during worst flood in South Punjab, dengue virus in Punjab and sufferings of IDPs. He also said that Khan, instead of sharing the miseries of IDPs during his visit to Bannu, had been raising hue and cry about the so called rigging before the media.